JUNO Award-winning composer Vivian Fung has a talent for combining idiosyncratic textures and styles into large-scale works, reflecting her multicultural background. Fung’s 2025/2026 premieres begin with a new work for Del Sol Quartet. Fung is writing a new Concerto for Sandbox Percussion and Kristin Lee’s U.S. tour this spring 2026. Continued partnerships include Fung’s first opera, My Family//Cambodia, 1975 with librettist Royce Vavrek; Girl from the 905, with soprano Andrea Núñez; and new work for violin and electronics. Born in Edmonton, Canada, Fung began her studies with composer Violet Archer and received her doctorate from The Juilliard School. She lives in California with her husband, their son, and their dog Coco.

Award-winning transgender Mexican-American composer Mari Esabel Valverde has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, Boston Choral Ensemble, Cantus, the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, Los Angeles Master Chorale, One Voice Mixed Chorus, Portland’s Resonance Ensemble, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club. A native of North Texas, she holds degrees from St. Olaf College and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers and the American Choral Directors Association.

Angélica Negrón is a Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist who lives in Brooklyn. She writes music for voices, orchestras, and film as well as robots, toys, and plants. Angélica is known for playing with the unexpected intersection of classical and electronic music, unusual instruments, and found sounds. Upcoming premieres include a cello concerto performed by Yo-Yo Ma and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and a requiem for Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Recent commissions include works for Opera Philadelphia (a drag opera film in collaboration with Mathew Placek and Sasha Velour), New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Kronos Quartet, and her Carnegie Hall debut, commissioned and performed by Sō Percussion. She is a founding member of the tropical electronic band Balún.

Gabriel Jenks grew up as a homeschooled misfit in rural western New York state, dividing his time amongst the practice room, the dance studio, the woods, and his parents’ basement writing stories under various pen names which his sister illustrated, published, and reviewed. He is now a composer, musician, writer, thinker, dancer, and teacher who embraces the dynamic and complex nature of being in his art. An associate professor of composition at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music, Gabriel has had performances of his music at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, the Chicago Art Institute, Tanglewood Music Center, The Aspen Music Festival, and others. Jenks holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, The Cleveland Institute of Music, Harvard University, and the Yale School of Music.